A new take on moorings in the Mediterranean

How to reduce the time and cost of a mooring lines installation? Jumbo Maritime partnered with MDL to deliver a combined solution for an FPSO in the Mediterranean: a portable flex-lay spread, mobilised on Jumbo's Heavy Load Carrier, the Fairplayer.

The MDL spread consisted of a First-generation Reel Drive System and level winder for precise transpooling of mooring line ropes from a total of 28 transport reels onto a purpose-built, heavy-duty deployment reel; as well as a Second-generation Reel Drive System for the overside installation of the product. The specialist 8.6m OD reel was designed by MDL’s in-house engineering team and features a spoked section to separate the polyester rope and mooring chain. The reel had a dual-function on the project: firstly allowing the transpooling of the product from the storage reels under back tension, and secondly for deployment of the lines overboard.

Thanks to additional modifications by the MDL engineering team, the First-generation RDS was able to skid down the tracks to handle 10 reels in a row. This, combined with the Fairplayer's large cargo capacity, reduced the number of port calls required for the different stages of this project, speeding up the execution and reducing project cost. The MDL Second-generation RDS integrated with the bespoke MDL- designed installation reel results in a cost-efficient yet highly capable installation solution, suitable for loads of up to 75Te, thanks to the system’s 150Tem of torque.